After her first cup of tea, Jessica paced. “How long do you think he’ll be?”
“Well, the stalker had a good head start,” the cop admitted, “so I don’t know. He could be hours.”
She glared at him. “You should have let him go right at the beginning.”
“I shouldn’t be letting him out there at all,” the cop corrected her. “He’s a civilian and not trained. I also don’t have permission from my boss.”
“Yet, if he finds the guy, you’ll get a commendation, and, if he doesn’t find the guy, you’ll get a slap on the wrist,” she said.
“Quite possibly, yes,” he said. “I’d just as soon catch this asshole.” He glared out the front window. “Remember. Two of my friends were attacked too.”
“What about their vehicle?” she asked. “My car is in the garage, and your police car is stopping me from getting it out.”
“Forensics is working on it right now,” he said. “They arrived about five minutes ago.”
She looked at him in surprise, walked to the dining room, where she could see out the window. Sure enough, people were going over the vehicle. “I’m surprised they don’t just tow it back to the station.”
“They will,” he said. “They just want to make sure nothing of interest is in there first.”
She nodded. “I can tell you that you should also be looking for this guy’s truck,” she said, frowning at the reminder. She’d worked hard to forget all that unpleasant mess. “I don’t remember much, only that the license plate ended with N.”
He looked at her in surprise. “When did you see his vehicle?”
She proceeded to fill him in on the fender bender and the threat that he made against her.
He whistled at that. “Have you had any contact with your ex?”
“Nothing except for divorce-related communications with our lawyers. Not until that fender bender message,” she said, “and, since then, my phone has had a million unidentified calls, where nothing is said, and then he hangs up. I accused the silent person on the other end of being George,” she said with a frown. “I heard a startled gasp but no acknowledgment.”
“Of course not,” he said. “It’s not likely he’s willing to give up his identity, is he?”
“No. Although I sure as hell wish he would,” she said. “I’m really pissed off about how this whole mess is affecting Danny.”
“Do you think this is all about child custody?”
“George didn’t want anything to do with my son when I was pregnant,” she said. “He wanted to break up so he wasn’t responsible for child support and wanted it known that, as far as he was concerned, I was supposed to have an abortion, and it went against his wishes to keep my son alive.”
The cop stared at her steadily. “And is that how it happened?”
“We never discussed abortion,” she said, “and it was a perfectly healthy pregnancy. I was healthy, and we’d been married for over a year by that time. There was absolutely no reason for an abortion,” she said, “and it’s not something that I would ever do.”
“So you broke up. How far along were you?”
“He walked out about a week after finding out that I was pregnant,” she said. “I didn’t tell him for several weeks because I wanted to be sure, so I was in about my fourteenth week when I told him.”
“And he was gone by the fifteenth?”
She nodded. “At the time, I thought it was probably just an excuse for him to leave because we hadn’t been terribly happy for the previous year. Somehow I thought maybe the child would make things better.”
He nodded. “I hear that a lot.”
“But I didn’t do anything, like trap him with the pregnancy,” she said. “I was on birth control, but I’ve always had problems regulating my cycle.”
He kept taking notes, nodding once in a while. “Where does your ex work?”
“He has his own medical supply business,” she said, “and he travels a lot.”
“Maybe he thought that would impact his lifestyle.”
“I think he only thought it would impact his bank account,” she said drily.
“And how much does he pay for child support now?”
“He doesn’t,” she said. “I just wanted my son, so that was our agreement upon separation. I would take my son, and he’d get to walk free.”
The policeman stopped and stared at her. “Most courts would have awarded you child support,” he said. “And it doesn’t make any sense for your ex-husband to come back now. It would be pretty easy to nail him for child support.”
“Well, that’s one theory,” she said, “but, considering he’s already hired a stalker, and I was attacked outside on my back veranda, plus suffered a car accident, I’m beginning to wonder if George is hoping I just wouldn’t be around. That way he wouldn’t have to pay child support at all. Plus he’d get sole custody of his son. Which, like three months ago, he decided he wanted after all.”
The cop stared at her. “Do you think he’d kill you?”
“I don’t know,” she said, holding out her hands defensively. “The man I thought I knew wouldn’t have walked away because I was pregnant,” she said. “So obviously I didn’t know who he really was to begin with.”
“Do you believe this guy who said it was a warning from your ex-husband?”
“I don’t know what to believe,” she said in bewilderment. “I didn’t understand the whole warning from my ex anyway. It’s not like I went after child support or anything else,” she said, “so it wasn’t even logical to have this conflict escalate now.”
“Unless he was trying to do something and wanted to make sure that you were compliant.”
“Maybe because George suddenly wants Danny now?” she said. “But threatening me to make that happen doesn’t make sense. Otherwise our lawyers or the courts are hashing out the divorce. I haven’t had any direct notification from George at all since we separated,” she said, feeling sick to her stomach. “And I really don’t want to. Danny and I have been perfectly happy without him.”
“So you’ve been separated for about two years?”
“Yes,” she said, “and nothing, not a word. Not even a peep from him, other than via the divorce attorneys, until three weeks ago when that stalker guy hit my car.” Shaking her head, she continued, “And that’s only if that accident even had anything to do with George in the first place. For all I know, this stalker guy is just off his rocker and goes around terrorizing single women.”
“And that could be true too.” The cop got up and said, “I’ll step outside and check on their progress.”
She followed him and watched as he headed to the front door. While he stepped out and closed the door, she walked around and checked to make sure everything was locked inside. So far it seemed like she was good to go.
The cop stepped back inside. “A tow truck’s here now, and they’ll take the patrol vehicle away. I’ll talk to forensics and see if they found anything.”
She nodded and stood in the open front door. It was almost six o’clock in the morning now. Danny would wake up somewhere between six-thirty and seven. It would be a very long day at this rate. She watched as the cop car was loaded up on the tow truck and hauled away. The forensics team piled into their van and left, and the cop came back inside.
“Have you heard from Greyson at all?”
She pulled out her phone and shook her head.
He worked his way around to ask her, “Just what is your relationship with him?”
“Friends,” she said briefly, sticking to Greyson’s rule about not saying too much. “I’m very grateful right now because, without him and Kona, I think the scenario last night would have had a completely different ending.”
He nodded at that. “I need to get back to work,” he said. “I can’t just stay here.”
She frowned at him. “But we don’t know where the stalker is.”
“And that’s why I’ll tell you to go inside and to lock all the doors. I’ll have somebody drive by and check on you in a few hours.”
Stunned, she just stared at him as he walked away. Because, in a few hours, it could easily be too late. She tried to protest and ask for protection.
He just waved at her and said, “No money in the budget for that. I’ll talk to my supervisor, but that’s all I can do.” He got into his vehicle and headed down her driveway and onto the street.
Jessica pulled out her phone and quickly sent Greyson a message, typing, Any luck? I’m alone now. The cop left.
Instead of a message back, he phoned her. “He walked away from you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Where are you?”
“Coming up the back alley,” he said, “and we’re still tracking.” It took her a moment to figure it out.
“Oh, my God. Are you saying he’s come all the way back?”
“Exactly,” Greyson said in a grim voice. “So please stay safe. I’m only a few minutes away.”
Greyson quickly opened the gate into the backyard, and, all of a sudden, Kona’s ears perked up, and she growled, pulling hard on the rope and dragging him to the rear veranda. All the commands that he gave her went ignored. She was on a mission, and he could do nothing but try to stay close to her. She raced up to the door and barked at the glass. He quickly opened the glass door to see a very startled Jessica looking at him in surprise.
“Something is wrong,” he snapped. “Have you checked on Danny?” She gave him a startled look and bolted up the stairs. Greyson and Kona were right behind her. As she went into the bedroom, she started screaming, and he knew. He let Kona’s rope go, and she jumped onto Danny’s bed and barked.
Searching, Kona went racing back downstairs and clawed at door to the garage. Greyson picked up her lead, opened the door, and went in. By now the garage door had been opened with the remote, and her car was gone. He stood at the empty driveway and stared. Kona was at the door, sniffing back and forth, looking hard, but she had lost the trail at the car. Greyson turned to see Jessica shaking and screaming in a muffled tone.
“What’s your license plate?” he snapped out.
She shook her head.
He reached over, grabbed her shoulders, and gave her a hard shake. “This isn’t the time to break down,” he said, “Danny can’t be very far away. What’s the license plate?”
She stammered it out, and he quickly phoned Badger and explained. He gave him the license plate number and then called the cops. With that done, he said, “I’ll go get my vehicle, and I’m taking the dog with me.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“You get ready. I’ll get my truck and meet you out front in two minutes,” he said.
He headed out the back door with Kona at his side. They raced through the backyard and down around the corner where the alley was. He got into his grandfather’s small truck and put Kona in the jumper seat of the extended cab. He pulled out through the alleyway and headed up the block. When he came around to the front of her house, she stood there waiting impatiently. He unlocked the door, and she quickly pulled it open and hopped in.
“Nobody has called me yet on his direction,” he said. He looked at Kona and said, “Kona, which way? Left or right?” It was almost as if the dog understood because, when he would go left, she barked terribly; so he turned right instead, and the dog sat and watched.
“Does she really know?” Jessica asked, tears silently running down her face, her fingers clenched together tightly, knuckles quite white.
“She knows, but she can’t necessarily confer what she knows,” he said. “Tell me about your car.”
“It’s just a Pontiac sedan,” she said.
“Do you keep the keys in it?”
“No,” she said. “But they’re hanging on a hook just inside the kitchen door.”
“So, it wouldn’t have taken much time for him to grab the keys and get out.”
“No,” she said, crying. “Dear God, he’s got Danny.”
“We’ll find him,” he said. Just then his phone rang, and he put it on Speaker. “Badger?”
“Yes, we’re running satellite right now,” he said.
“I don’t suppose you have anything from like fifteen to twenty minutes ago, do you?”
“We’re running traffic cams. At the moment I don’t have anything visual. I wanted to confirm that a car seat is in the vehicle, right?”
He turned to look at her, and she nodded.
“That doesn’t mean the kidnapper put the child in the seat though,” Greyson reminded him.
“No, but it’s another identifying mark for the rear window view,” Badger said. “I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”
Greyson kept driving forward, trying to reconstruct the block in his mind to figure out where it ended. He thought a cul-de-sac was up ahead. “Is there another way out of this block?”
“If you know the area, yes,” she said, sniffling, her crying down to a silent stream down her face. “This alleyway connects to another street.”
He quickly followed her instructions and came out on a different street. “And, if he’d been casing the area,” Greyson said, “he would have known.”
“But he should have had his own wheels, right?”
“But that would make him highly visible,” he said. “Besides, the cops may have taken it away already.”
“So mine was the next-best bet,” she said bitterly. “God, I checked on Danny so many times.”
“You couldn’t have known,” he said. “Guys like this, they’re very determined.”
“But you knew, and that’s why you went out hunting him.”
“And lost him and finally backtracked him here again,” he said grimly. “But that’s why I know it couldn’t have been too long ago.”
Badger called again. “Satellite has picked him up about four miles from the house.”
“Which direction?” Greyson asked, giving his own location.
“Take a right, stay on this two blocks up, then take a left.”
Another voice came over the line. “This is Stone,” he said. “I’m part of Levi’s security company. Badger contacted us because we have a fully running satellite system. I understand we’ve got a missing boy.”
“Yes,” Greyson said, “and, hey, Stone. I did two tours with you about nine years ago.”
“I remember,” he said. “We got this, buddy. Just keep following instructions,” he said. “I’ve got you on satellite now too.”
“How far ahead are they?”
“You’re closing the gap a little bit. Once you hit that freeway, you’ll have to start funneling through the traffic and picking up some speed.”
“I think the on-ramp is coming up,” Greyson said.
“Change lanes to the right and take the next right, and you’ll be on the freeway then.”
Greyson quickly followed instructions, knowing that Jessica was silent and locked into a tiny ball in the front seat beside him, almost crippled by the circumstances. Which was totally understandable, given her son was being driven farther and farther away from her.
“How far ahead is he?” Greyson asked Stone.
“Too far for you to see. Try to pick up any opening you can. You need to make up at least two miles on him.”
With that, Greyson returned to his training and immediately wove through the traffic, going faster, picking up a few feet at a time when passing each vehicle.
“Okay, you’ve cut the distance in half,” Stone said in approval. “Keep going. We need to gain about that much distance again, and then you should be within a few vehicle lengths.”
Focusing, Greyson quickly maneuvered through the traffic, honking his horn as he swept in, taking chances he wouldn’t normally take but needing to under the circumstances. And very quickly he pulled ever closer.
“There’s an off-ramp,” Stone said. “Coming up on your right. The vehicle is crossing four lanes of traffic to get there.”
“That’s a sudden decision then,” Greyson said.
“He is already in the second lane on the right,” Stone added.
“I can make it into the right lane,” Greyson said. “Let me know if he takes the off-ramp.”
“He’s off,” Stone said.
“Next right?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly the exit was right here, and he took it at full speed, only braking as he headed into the corner, pulling around, whipping forward with a speed that he could see was bothering Jessica. But he was in full control. There was nothing quite like the driving training he’d been put through. He knew how to handle any vehicle. He could even fly a plane if he had to. Helicopters? Well, that was a whole different story.
“The vehicle is four ahead of you now,” Stone said.
Greyson hit the gas and passed the next vehicle. “Three then?”
“Three.”
And soon it was two.
“So he’s the second car in front of you right now.”
Greyson leaned forward, looking through the windshield. “Wish we had better lighting,” he said. “I can’t believe how dark it is still.”
“You got a heavy cloud cover,” Stone said. “It’s causing us some troubles too.”
Greyson quickly passed the next vehicle and came up on the passenger side of the car. He looked over at her. “Is that your car?” he asked.
She looked at him, looked at the car beside them, and gasped. “Oh, my God. Yes. See? That’s the car seat in the back.” She leaned forward and tried to look.
“Don’t bother,” he said. “The car seat is empty.”
She gasped and sank back against her seat. “What does that mean?” she said, her hands trembling.
“What it probably means,” he said, “is that Danny is asleep in the front seat, all buckled in with blankets. The kidnapper probably didn’t want to take the time to figure out the car seat.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like Danny to sleep this long. He should be waking up.”
“We won’t deal with that right now,” he said. “What I need to do is get this guy to slow down.”
They were running neck and neck, but the other guy didn’t appear to even be watching what Greyson was doing. He eased back slightly and tucked in behind him.
“What are you doing?” she cried out. “You just caught up to him.”
“We don’t want to put Danny in danger,” he said.
She just stared at him—at a loss for words—and sank back into the seat.
“I know this is tough,” he said. “I get that, but you need to trust me now.”
She nodded slowly. “I’m working on it. That’s my car for sure, but what the hell are we supposed to do now?”
Up ahead were cop cars with their sirens blaring. The Pontiac quickly dodged lanes and took a left. Greyson was right on his tail and took a left too.
“Hey, Stone. I’m gonna need another route, or he’ll think I’m following him.”
“He probably already thinks that.”
As the Pontiac took a quick right, Greyson passed it and took the next right. “Where’d he go?”
“He’s still running parallel to you, so keep going,” Stone said. “You’re a block apart and both of you are heading in the same direction.”
Greyson picked up speed. “Where will this take us?” He looked over at Jessica.
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I don’t know this area at all.”
“You’re in an industrial area,” Stone said. “All kinds of places for him to hide. If you can make a block over, I need you to do that quick, somewhere in the next block.”
Just like that, Greyson pulled over and took a hard right, then drove down and took a fast left. “Now where?”
“He just took a left,” Stone said, “and not this block. On the next block, three-quarters of the way through, there should be a parking lot or underground parking or something. It’s really hard for us to see.”
Greyson pulled up slowly and took a driveway. “It’s a chemical plant,” he said. “Looks like the headquarters or front offices for a chemical plant.”
“No sign of the vehicle at this point,” Stone said. “Maybe get out with Kona.”
“Got it. I’ll keep you in the loop.” With that, he pulled into the first parking lot, hopped out with Kona, and asked Jessica, “You coming with me?”
She was already out, saying, “Absolutely.”
They walked quickly down past the vehicles they had already driven past, looking for anywhere her vehicle could have been hidden. Up past the front entrance were several other vehicles. He looked at them and shook his head, but he saw a loading bay off to the side.
He ran over to the side, and, sure enough, a small car was parked down below. With Kona at his side, he raced to it. Running to the front passenger seat window, he looked inside to see a bundle of blankets. Quickly he jerked open the door and checked. There was Danny.
He quickly scooped the baby up in his arms, and, turning, he passed him over to Jessica, just as she got there. She immediately cried out, grabbing the child, holding him close.
He put in a call to Stone. “We’ve got the boy,” he said, “but we need a lockdown on this area so we can find the kidnapper.”
“Cops are on their way,” he said.
“They haven’t been much help so far,” Greyson said in a hard voice. “And they’ve been chumped by the same guy twice now.”
“Give them a chance,” Stone said. “If you need some extra men, just let us know. We’ve probably got somebody nearby we can pull in.”
“I might need to,” he said. “Can you fill Badger in? I’ll put Jessica and the baby safely into my truck and leave Kona to watch them. Then I’ll be hunting.”